1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to rack-mounting systems and, more particularly, to increasing redundancy and mean-time between failures (MTBF).
2. Description of the Prior Art
Rack-mounting systems have been known and used for many years to mount numerous types of electronic and electrical modular components. Typically, the racks have a standard width, and the electrical or electronic modular components that are mounted on the rack have similar widths so that each component can be inserted into a bay of a rack and attached to the frame of the rack-mounting system to secure it in place. Typically, the modular components are provided with front panels that form end or lateral flanges, which extend beyond the width of the housing of the modular components. These panels are arranged and aligned with portions of the frame in such a manner such that they can be secured by means, for example, of bolts, screws or other fastening devices to the frame.
In a typical rack-mounted setup, the various bays or shelves of the rack are filled with diverse electrical or electronic components that are interconnected with each other at the rear of the units and with other inputs and/or outputs. Thus, for example, when used in conjunction with audio systems, one bay of the rack may be a low-noise preamplifier, another bay occupied by a power amplifier, while a third bay might include a frequency equalizer. It is clear that in different fields or applications, such racks are populated by specialized modular components needed for a given application. Thus, in the field of satellite communications, such modular components may include block upconverters, block downconverters, test translators, switchover units, and the like.
A problem in prior applications is that different or similar modular components have frequently shared common functional elements or blocks, such as a power supply used to power two or more modular components. For this reason, when one of such common functional elements failed, an entire system could fail, in which case the defective portions of the system would have to be replaced before the system could be “up and running” again. This would require standby staff that would physically replace a defective unit with a new one. Also, this inevitably resulted in a down time for the entire system. When dealing with satellite communication systems, down time is not normally acceptable, and systems need to have a degree of redundancy so that failure of one component does not down the system, but rather a replacement component is quickly and seamlessly inserted where the failed component existed.